CO #3 Dana

    My third and final classroom observation was spent with Vicky’s speaking class. The agenda was once again written on the board and listed 1) Finish talking about opinions 2) Pronunciation /th/ /f/ game. After a bit of housekeeping, the class split up into pairs and practiced timed speaking.

    They were to discuss their opinions concerning a list of items written in their books and focus on the act of conversation. Vicky described the discussion as a game of tennis. Person A should say something, and then Person B is supposed to listen, agree or disagree, and then give some input of their own at some point. Vicky also led a small discussion concerning the strength of an answer. For example, “Which sounds stronger? ‘I’m afraid I disagree,’ or ‘I’m not sure I agree.”  Conversation was held for five minutes, and then extended to ten because it was going so well. During all of this, Vicky took notes on their errors as she walked around the class.

      Vicky is extremely energetic and uses so much enthusiasm when she speaks, that she excites the class as a whole. Everyone wants to speak, answer, and participate. I have also found it interesting how the students are forced in a way to speak English in class due to the amount of various ethnicities in the class. If the students do not speak in English, they won’t be able to communicate with their classmates, make friends, or find answers to their questions.

      After the conversation, Vicky discussed the speaking errors she had heard while wandering the class, which led to the next activity. The class was having a particularly difficult time with /th/. They read a few sentences using /th/ and talked about how there are actually two ways of pronouncing /th/. Then the next activity was described to the class.

     Vicky had written out sets of minimal pairs and split the class into two teams. I was placed on one of the teams for good humor. Vicky would place the two minimal pairs next to each other on the table and, with a member from each team pitted against one another, she would say “The first word!” or “The second word!” And whoever was able to say that specific word correctly the quickest, followed a by the correct use of the word in a sentence, received a point for their team. The class loved the activity and became very competitive by the end. At this point I was removed from my team because of my obvious advantage over the other students. The activity though was a ton of fun and acted as an excellent evaluator for Vicky.